Improvement in machines for breaking and scutching or cleaning flax and hemp



.No. 2,980. PATENTED MAR. 4, 1843. H. JOHNSON. MAGHINE FOR BREAKING AND SOUTGHING OR CLEANING FLAX AND HEMP.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY Johnson, on MAYSVlLLE, KENTUCKY.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR BREAKING AND SCUTCHING 0R CLEANING FLAX AND HEMP.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 2,980, (lated'March 4, 1843.

. To all tohom it may concern:

Be' it known that I, HENRY JOHNSON, of Ma-ysville, in the county of Mason and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Machine for Separating the Shives from the Fiber or Lint of Hemp and Flax, which improved machine I .denominate a scutchingmachine, and which may be used not only for the scutching or cleaning, but may also be employed as a breaking-machine; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

I sometimes use my scutching-machine in conjunction with a'separate breaking machine,

and in the accompanying drawings I have vshown the two as combined, as well as separate from each other, and ittwill be found best- .in a large establishment soio use them.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my scutching-machine. Fig. 2 represents a breaking, separate from the scntching, machine; and Fig. 3, thewtwo machines supposed, to be cou-. pled together, so as to'operate simultaneously.

- Fig. 4' is an end,;an'd Fig. 5 a front, iew of a concave, between which and the beating-cylinder in either machine the material is to pass and be acted upon-as it leaves the feedingapron. I

A, Figs. 1 and3, is the uppermost of two feeding-rollers, between which the material to be operated upon is carried to the heating or article between the feeding-rollers.

B B are the lower and the upper dressing or beating cylinders, which are similar to each other in. their'construction, and are connected together by gearing-wheels H H, so as to be .driven with equal velocities. .They have each Q8 cylindrical body, as shown at B, and carry four beatrsojr vanes, B", which are kept at equal distances apart by the gearing-wheels H H. The edges of thevanes in their nearest; approach to the cylindrical bodyB have space sntfieient for the passageot' the'hemp or flax between them. Instead of four vanes, a greater 'or less number may be used,if.preferred. The

feeding-apron difiers from those heretofore employed by being made not only to hold the hemp, but to allow it to be fed in or to be drawn back in the same manner in which it is fed inland drawn back by the hand of the attendant in dressing and breakin gmachines generally; but this object is efl'ected by it in a more perfect manner than it can possibly be accomplished byhand,the material being more widely and equally spread out. For the purpose of feeding and-of drawing back the mate'rial,I combine with the feeding-apron of the I .scutching-machine a double clutch or shipper for reversing its motion.

E, Figs. 1 and 3, is a shipper-rod','which connected with a lever that'moves the clutchboxes.

.G G are two clutches, one or the other of which may. at pleasure be put into gear with the lower feeding-rollers; or, if desired, the

motion of the feeding-apron may .loe'arrested' by movingthe rod E so that neither ofxthe clutches shall be in gear. Such clutch-boxes need not be particularly described, as they are wellknown to machinists; but they have not heretofore been used in the combination in 1 which I have employed them.

- ,1? is a pulley on a shaft at the rear of the machine, which shaft'has a pulley, F, Fig. 3, on its other end, from which. twopulley-bands pass around the two-pulleys G G on the'clutchi'ng apparatus, and one. of these 'bandsbe'ing crossed they thus serve to reversethe motion.- 'lhe arrangement of the dressing orbeating cylinders of, the feeding-apron and the concaveis shown in Fig.6,which is avertical section ofthe scutching-machine through the,

middle'from front to baekfthe respective parts being designated by the same letters of reference as in the other figures.

J is a concave, against the upper edge, J r of which the heaters or vanes B" operate. This concave maybe stationary; but I deem it best to give to it an elastic actionby placing strong springs T at each end of it to operate against the frame and bear it up toward the heaters,

as it will then yield to any 'extra -force resulting-from the resistance of the material;

By combining the clutching apparatus with this scutching'machine the feeding is efl'ectually audnnost advantageously governed, The hemp or flax isfed in and'withdrawn to any' ,extent and anynumber of times, or maybe left at rest, according to the judgment of 'the attendant, with no other labor. on his part than the shifting of the rod E-an arrangement which not only abridg'es the labor, but renders the operation much more perfect than it otherwise would'be.

Fig. 2 shows a breaking-machine which may be ,used in combination with the scutchingmachine; but breaking-machines of other constructions may be substituted for the one represented; or, as above indicated, the scntching-machine may be used to break as well as to scotch. Believing, however, that the breaking-machine shown in Fig. 2 is one of the best carrying swords or heaters a a, which operate against a concave similar in all respects to that described as used with the scutcher. These heaters should be placed,obliquely, so as not to act with their whole length at once against the upper edge of the concave. The roller 0 is borne down by levers K K and weights d d.

M is a delivering-apron revolving in a di; rection the reverse of the apron L.- The roller 0 is the uppermost of a pair of holdingrollers appertaining to this apron, the pulley 6 being on the shaft of the lowermost. There is a second lower roller, on the shaft of which is the pulley e. The apron is stretched round this last roller, so as to carry it close to the beating-cylinder. Aband from the pulley 6 may ,drive both these lower rollers. By this arrangement the hemp, as it is broken, is carried forward and is delivered by the apron, M in D front of the machine. As it passes from the beating-cylinder onto said apron. it is held thereon by the. roller 0, which may be borne down by weights or by springs V. The driving-pulleyfis placed on the main shaft ofthis machine. Y

In Fig. 3the breaking-machine is shown as situated alongside of the scutching-machine,

so that both may be driven by the same power.

In these figures the beating-cylinders are hidden by the covers P l. Having thus fully described the nature of my improved scutching-machine and shown the manner in which the same operates, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combiningof aelutching and shipping apparatus with the dressing or beating cylinders for the purpose of feeding, withdrawing, or holding stationary ,the hemp or flax upon the feeding-apron while it is being acted upon' by the heating or scutching vanes, the whole being arranged and operating in the manner herein set forth.

2. I do not claim the beating orscutchingcylinder separately, nor do [claim to be the inventor of the clutching or shipping apparatus for arresting or changing the motion of machinery, but confine my claim to their combination in a machine for scutching, heating, or

dressing'hemp orflax, as herein set forth.

HENRY JOHNSON. Witnesses:

A. U. REsPEss,. 1%. H. STANTON. 

